The Pack: Mating
by Debster's Dictionary
Summary: When Xander is possessed by a hyena, something goes a bit wrong, and the hyena takes a liking to a certain bully we all know and hate. xander/kyle slash Disclaimer: I do not own the content within. now with sex!
1. I hate eveything about you

The Pack: Mating

Chapter One

Xander Harris thought that perhaps God, or whatever was up there, owed him a little payback for that morning. He figured he ought to win the lottery or meet a supermodel or something. Life flat out owed him, and it was gonna pay up.

He shifted into a slightly more comfortable position on the bus bench and looked across at his two main girls. Wills and the Buffster were deep in conversation on their own bus bench torture device, leaving him with the unenviable empty seat beside him. It wasn't that he resented their closeness, conversation, or even sitting together. Hell, if Jesse had been there, he and Xan would've probably been worse. But Jesse wasn't there, and now it was just him contemplating the meaning of brown vinyl as they rode to the zoo.

That wasn't why the world owed him.

Sure, the world owed him for Jesse too, but they could just add him to the tally. No, Xander was pissed because that morning he'd gotten a phone call from the Sunnydale PD asking his mother to come on down to the station and bail out his father on a Drunk and Disorderly.

At four in the morning.

Of course he'd had to go down with her, and ended up filling out most of the paperwork himself, while dear old dad swore up and down that he would never touch the hard stuff again. They had a week until the court date, and two days until the promises wore off. By the time Xander had driven his parents home, it was time for school.

So, yeah, the universe owed him one. At least.

Xander kicked the seat in front of him. A male head whipped around and glared. Kyle. King of the mean kids. God this wasn't his day.

"Watch it spaz!" came the expected insult. "Do I need to tell Ms. Forwood you're having a little 'fit'?"

Ms. Forwood was the head of the special education department at Sunnydale High, a fact Xander knew only too well from the numerous times Willow had taken him to get tested for learning disabilities. As it turned out, there was a difference between being functionally retarded and being lazy. Xander was lazy. Still, all the visits had given him a reputation for the former, and it seemed that Kyle was well informed. Yay.

Gravel crunched beneath the bus tires as it pulled into the zoo parking lot. Kyle turned his attention to his minions and Xander let out a silent sigh. Kyle hadn't been so bad up until a few years ago. In fact, they had even been on friendly terms for a while, at least before Kyle had hit puberty like a brick wall and become the ruler of the scary-cool kids.

Willow and Buffy were looking at him expectantly now, ready to get off the bus and see some wildlife. Personally, Xander was considering falling asleep where he sat, but failing was worse than exhaustion, so he dutifully got up and piled out of the bus with the rest of the herd. Willow smiled at him and he stretched his facial muscles back. It was shaping up to be a long day.

With a Slayer on one arm and a Slayerette on the other, Xander led them into the zoo. Armed only with a vague knowledge of the park's layout and a general sense of unease, he let the girls drag him off towards the reptile area.

And oh joy, Kyle was already there with his band of miscreants. Xander sighed, then faked a smile for Willow as she jabbered excitedly in his ear.

"…so many species! I can't believe the zoo has so much funding!" she went on. Buffy nodded and tapped the glass on a snake's cage. It didn't move.

God, why did Kyle have to be everywhere? It seemed like since eighth grade, Kyle and his cronies were wherever Xander was, making his life hell. Before they'd been acquaintances, just two guys who got along well enough, but now it was as if Kyle loathed every last inch of him. It was enough to make a guy a mite tetchy.

"Xander!" It was a Buffy screech, not a Willow screech. "They have a butterfly house! We so have to go in there!"

All he wanted was a nap. That's all.

"Sounds awesome, Buff," was what he said instead, ignoring the sneer as he passed Kyle and headed out of the reptiles. Willow followed happily behind, untroubled by most things on this fine California day. Oh, to have Willow's life.

Xander tried to enjoy the sensation of being covered in butterflies, but his mind kept drifting to other things, like his father's upcoming trial. Defense attorneys didn't come cheap, even in Sunnydale, and even if they could get one, the police seemed pretty confident in their ability to put Anthony Harris away for a few months.

This was torture.

"Come ON, Xander!" he followed the Willow voice, leading him towards the zebras. It looked like Buffy was striking out on her own. That was just as well. One less person to please.

Wow. That was a lot of stripes.

Mating zebras had a way of making all of his problems seem monumentally less important, or at least less interesting, so long as he was mesmerized by the vague sense of intrigue and nausea. So many stripes.

Willow was bouncing up and down next to him, and he couldn't decide if that was more or less disturbing than the zebra sex itself.

Dammit, he could see Kyle again, lurking a little ways away and scowling. He was alone, and Xander toyed with the idea of going over there and asking him what his problem was, but dismissed it. Willow would wonder, and this was something he and Jesse'd always tried to keep her out of.

Willow spotted Buffy coming back, and hopped over to greet her.

"Hey! Buffy!" Xander yelled, figuring he might as well pretend to be her Xander-shaped friend.

"You missed it!" Willow said.

"Missed what?" Buffy asked, her attention obviously elsewhere.

"We just saw the zebras mating," Xander said, nodding towards the still hyper Willow. "Thank you, very exciting."

"It was like the Heimlich, with stripes!"

Buffy did not appear to be nearly devastated enough. "And I missed it," she said. "Yet somehow I'll find the courage to live on."

Well someone was a little miss pouty-pants today.

Willow remained blissfully oblivious. "Where were you?"

"I was looking at the fishes."

"Was it cool?" Willow, bless her heart, just didn't know when to give up.

"It was fishes."

"I'm feeling you're not in the field trip spirit here," Xander said. Inside, he rolled his eyes. If anyone had a right to be in a funk, it was him, but he was making nice. She could just stuff it.

Buffy was making some excuse about doing this trip every year at her old school. Ah yes, the old school. The one that kicked her out. Love you too, Slayer.

"Buffy, this isn't just about looking at a bunch of animals," he said, burying his frustration. "This is about not being in class!"

She brightened and he winced inside. "You're right," she said, "suddenly the animals look shiny and new."

"Gotta have perspective," he said, mask firmly in place as he watched Kyle and company approach some guy…Larry? Lenny? Lance! That was it. It looked like they were pulling their usual stuff when Flutie intervened and Lance…defended them?

Xander geared up to go over there. Lance was an okay guy, and Kyle was just going to screw him up. They were heading to the Hyena House. Great.

Willow perked up behind him. "What are Kyle and his buds doing with Lance?"

"Playing with him as a cat plays with a mouse," he said, grimacing.

"What is it with those guys?" asked Buffy.

"They're obnoxious. Professionally," said Willow.

"Well, every school has 'em," he said. "So you start a new school, you get your desks, some blackboards, and some mean kids." Except that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. Xander wanted to know what made Kyle tick, and he wanted to know now.

"Yeah, well, I'd better go extract Lance before…" Buffy said. Xander stopped her.

"I'll handle it. This job doesn't require actual slaying."

He knew the girls didn't believe him, but he had to confront Kyle now or lose his nerve, so he raced into the Hyena House, drawn inexorably towards the center. He could hear Kyle up ahead.

As he rushed into the main room, he knew he was right on time. The gang had Lance held up against the enclosure. Xander ran up and pulled him down.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own species?" he snapped at Kyle who looked even angrier than usual.

"What, are you gonna get in my face?" said Kyle, stepping closer.

The hyenas chose that moment to growl suddenly, distracting them. They all looked down into the enclosure and into the primal eyes.

As the wave of magic and power rushed over him, Xander couldn't help but think that this was not how he wanted the universe to pay him back.


	2. Why do I love you?

The Pack: Mating

Chapter Two

Kyle opened his eyes to a thrum of power underneath his skin. He looked at the others, Tor, Heidi and Rhonda, and he could see that they all felt it too. And then there was that amazing scent rolling off of the man next to him. Kyle pressed into it, murmuring. It smelled like alpha and strength and home. There was something else in the air, though, underneath all of that…prey!

Kyle turned around, dimly noting that the others followed. Lance was sprawled across the ground where he had tripped and the sight was just so pathetic that he had to laugh. But instead of his usual throaty laughter, what came out was a high, tense cackle that seemed to fit him like and old skin. The others joined in, all but Xander, who just turned and smirked.

It was the smirk that did it, really. Years afterwards, Kyle would swear that history would have been different had it not been for that little twitch of facial muscles.

Lance ran. The laughter increased.

Inside, Kyle was boiling, his own rage stirred up by that of the primal. How dare he be so calm when Kyle was a conflicted mess. In fact, how dare Xander BE at all! How dare the outsider be alpha? That was his rightful place. He had earned it.

With a snarl, Kyle launched himself at the still smirking Xander, intending to prove who was alpha once and for all. Xander let himself be thrown to the ground, and began to wrestle a bit, thoroughly enjoying himself. Kyle's thoughts whirled. He was an imposter, not good enough for the pack, and outsider…He tried to pin Xander, but the larger boy was also stronger and just reversed the situation.

Kyle lay pressed into the floor of the Hyena House as the others watched and he knew that he would have to find some way to prove himself again. They would never follow him after this.

"You smell amazing," said Xander, nuzzling into the joint between his shoulders and neck, "like sunshine and warmth and submission and home." He gave the area a few playful nips.

Home. That was what Xander smelled like.

Wait—submission? He DID NOT smell like that, no matter what Xander 'son of the town drunk' Harris said. Kyle ignored the voice urging him to tilt his neck and just relax, that alpha would take care of him. That alpha would make everything good again. He began to struggle against Xander's hold. The bigger boy just smirked again.

"Come on, Kyle," he said, wiggling into a better position. Kyle groaned. "You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it." Heidi and Rhonda cackled. Tor just looked confused. Kyle's eyes pleaded for an intervention, but Tor remained steadfast in his avoidance.

Xander's head dipped back down to his shoulder joint. "Give in," he said, "I'll keep you safe." As much as he wanted too, Kyle couldn't fight the little voice any longer. Every time Xander spoke it got louder, and right now it was shouting. He slumped. Xander smiled in victory.

"You're mine now," he said, "all mine," then bit down as hard as he could on Kyle's shoulder. Kyle gasped as he was flooded with pain and an odd feeling of belonging. Goddammit, if Xander was kidding around about this…

Xander was still smiling as he stood up, and extended a hand to help Kyle. Kyle took it without thinking. Xander would take care of him. He belonged to Xander.

Tor whined at the back of his throat. Kyle watched as he went up to Xander. What, was Xander going to give him the whole dog and pony show too? Was that all it was, a welcome to the pack gift? He bit back a snarl. He had no right to be angry. He'd lost.

But Xander didn't throw Tor to the ground or speak to him or fight him. He just walked up and bit him on the neck, just a little mark. He did the same for Heidi and Rhonda too.

It looked like he was special then, or at least the only one who hadn't been able to instantly adapt to Xander freaking Harris as alpha. Kyle resisted the urge to go to Xander, then gave in as the other boy extended an arm towards him.

God he was pathetic.

"We should go," Kyle whispered into Xander's neck, right where the scent was strongest. "The bus is leaving soon."

"Screw the bus," said Xander, but slowly pulled away. He led them all back through the halls and into the open air. It smelled so much better here, so much freer. Kyle scented the air and smiled at Xander. He smirked back.

Cocky bastard.

The walk back to the buses was uneventful as Kyle reflected on what had happened in the Hyena House. He felt lighter now, as if he'd let go of a weight he'd carried for years. He felt stronger too, more powerful and more awake, like he'd been asleep since he was a child.

Ahead of him he could see Xander, but more than that, he could feel him. It was like he had a Xander-detector in his bones or something. It was always there, humming away, letting him know if Xander was close. It was more than just keeping track of the alpha, too. He didn't know how he knew that, but he did. This was something deep and dark and he felt it had to be related to the bite on his shoulder and the smell of home.

They were at the buses, and Principal Flutie was standing out in front, tapping his watch. Kyle smirked a bit at that, and Xander looked behind to share in the joke.

His Xander-detector thrummed with joy.

As they climbed on board, Kyle could see the two little bitches who hung off of Xander looking his way, their eyes wide with concern. He hadn't broken their toy, promise. The redhead was whispering something thing Buffy's ear. He would bet a kidney they were talking about him.

Xander flopped into an empty seat, and pulled Kyle down with him. Kyle squashed the side of him that yelled that he was a person and not a possession, with thoughts of "alpha, good, strong."

The other three managed to squeeze into the seat directly in front of them. And so, all students finally accounted for, the bus took off, and with it, Kyle's feelings of safety. He got motion-sick at the best of times, but right now he felt like being on the moving bus was actually making his soul sick.

He whimpered softly, but apparently not softly enough, because Xander heard him.

"What is it?"

Kyle curled in tighter and tried to tell himself that soon he would get off the bus and he could lie in the grass and not move.

"Kyle?"

His alpha was asking him something. He should answer his alpha.

"What's wrong?"

"Hurts," said Kyle, through clenched teeth. "Feels wrong."

"What feels wrong?"

"Being on this big abomination of a thing while it moves," he said, only dimly realizing how odd that sounded. "I get motion sick sometimes."

Xander nodded and wrapped an arm around Kyle's shoulders. They ignored the mutterings around them. There would be a time for dealing with those later.

"Concentrate on me, Kyle," he said, and Kyle tried to comply. He let the scent of alpha-strong-home wash over him, and it helped, even if it didn't make it all better.

But it seemed to have helped enough, because now the bus was pulling in to the Sunnydale High parking lot, and stopping, thank God and all the powers that be. Kyle breathed out his nausea and stood on shaky feet. Xander watched him closely, and that knowledge alone allowed him to walk off the bus.

Heidi, Tor and Rhonda gathered around him in the parking lot, speaking low words of comfort. Xander was a solid presence at his back, and he basked in the feeling of family.

Buffy and her minion were still glaring at him, so he took the time to send her a snarl back, his eyes glinting green just a bit. That sent them packing! He smirked and turned his attention back to Xander and the pack.

"Where now?" said Kyle, breathing deep.

"Anywhere but here," said Xander.

"Sounds like a plan," said Tor, already gearing up to go.

"But Kyle," whined Heidi, "I left my stuff inside."

Kyle shrugged. He didn't really care either way.

"Shut up!" snapped Tor. "Alpha said we're leaving."

"Leave her alone," yelled Rhonda.

Xander looked at Kyle and raised an eyebrow. Kyle flushed. Sometimes his pack could be a bit immature.

"We have time for a stop," said Xander, magnanimously settling the issue without addressing the dissension in the ranks. Tor seemed to think that whatever Xander said was the law, and the girls were just happy to get their own way.

Kyle didn't really need anything inside, so he was perfectly happy to be dragged along by Xander. Well, most of him was perfectly happy. He was carefully stomping on the rebellious bits that insisted on shouting about public places and homophobia. Instead of listening, he just smiled as Xander pressed him up against a locker.

"You're doing it again," said Xander.

"Doing what?"

"Smelling way too damn good," Xander breathed into the side of his neck.

Kyle just barely managed to keep himself from moaning.

"You're all mine," said Xander, nuzzling the bite he'd made earlier.

"And you?" said Kyle. "Are you all mine too?"

He held his breath in anticipation. His Xander-sense was driving him off the wall with its purr. Xander pulled back to answer, only to be interrupted.

"Xander?" It was the redheaded one that followed him around. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Xander growled low in his throat as he pushed off of Kyle and the wall. "Hold that thought," he said as he walked over to the intervening harpy. She led him into another hallway for some 'privacy', and Kyle let his head fall back against the wall.

…Only to whip it around double quick as Buffy Summers, in all her glory slammed him against the wall.

"Alright mister," she said, "answer quick and I'll let you keep your ribcage: what did you do to my Xander?"


	3. In your eyes

Chapter Three

Xander was not happy. He was not happy in an epic running through the Savannah chasing prey barking at the sky way. He wanted out. He wanted to crawl out of his skin because it was too tight, itchy, vibrating with energy and power and magic. Lots of magic. He could smell it and it was like fried bananas. It made his stomach turn.

Need mate.

He shook that thought off quickly. Kyle was fine. He was fine. They were only a hallway apart, after all. A hallway apart in Sunnydale High, home of the Hellmouth. Oh Goddess. No. No, he was choosing to believe that Kyle was fine.

Oh right, Willow. Willow was the reason he wasn't pressed against a nice willing mate right now.

"We're worried, Xander," she said, probably wrapping up some long intervention speech he had blissfully tuned out. Well, maybe not blissfully, but the effect was the same. She waited for a response.

"I'm fine," he said, and forced his smile to reach his eyes.

"It's just different," she said.

"What is?" he said.

"You and Kyle being all, you know, with the naughty touching and the not growling," Willow blushed and Xander basked in the memory of said naughty touching, although.

"We still growl," he said, distracted by thoughts of a pliant Kyle, "just in a good way." He trailed off. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Ignorance was not a convincing look on Willow, Xander noted as he strained to hear more.

"It sounded like a thump," he said. A thump coming from where Kyle was.

Mate. MATE!

Every sense screamed at Xander to run, so he did, clawing past the redhead in his way and tearing down the hallway. There it was! The Slayer was threatening His Mate. How dare she? He screeched to a halt and stood beside Buffy and Kyle, not at all winded, but glowering.

"Put him down."

Kyle met his eyes and he was almost overjoyed to see relief in them. His instincts told him that this was good. It meant that Kyle was accepting his leadership and was fully submitting.

There was still Buffy to deal with, though.

"DOWN!" he growled, and she complied without thinking, dropping Kyle, then scowling at Xander.

"Maybe I should be asking you the questions," she said, reaching around to grasp something in her back pocket. Kyle skittered around to hide behind Xander, an action that almost made him purr.

"You come here, assault my mate, and _you're _asking _me_ questions?" he said, disbelief bleeding through.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Xander?" the little blonde pedantically continued, brandishing the dagger she had drawn.

"Uh, I am Xander." He really hated to burst her bubble…ooh, he could smell his mate. Nice mate, nice smell.

"My Xander doesn't talk to me like that."

Stupid girl.

"Really," he said. "_Your_ Xander?"

"Yes," she huffed, "he's my friend."

"First off," he had to concentrate very hard not to pounce on her and claw at her vocal cords until he tore them out, her hands scrabbling to gain purchase on the tile as he slowly crushed her windpipe… "Friends are not property. And secondly, overreacting much?"

He may have been able to smell the magic, but he was pretty sure she couldn't.

"Xander's not gay."

"Okay," he said, "I think we're going now." Kyle gave a little nod of assent and they turned to bolt.

"Wait a minute," said Buffy. "You forgot something."

Xander spun on his heel out of courtesy and faced her. "What?"

"This."

'This' was apparently the union of her fist and his face, a fact he realized as he slumped to the suddenly soft and appealing ground. The last thing he saw before the stars went out was a stunned Kyle going down to a swing of Willow's book bag. Traitorous bitch.

Black. Thudding pain. Screeching laughter. A hot, dry wind that smelled of dust and death. Earth. Fried bananas. Silence.

When the hyena opened her eyes she was confused. All she could see were bars on a cage, and all she could feel was a cool, smooth ground.

_Tile._

Her body was strange and new. Two legs, and arms now, like the men she sometimes hunted. Pale and furless, only a little crop of hair on top that she could feel. Male. That was new.

She seemed to remember this body, as she seemed to remember that the ground was called tile, and that the place she sat was called the book-cage in the library. She wasn't sure what those words meant, but she knew that she had to get out because it was bad. She had a wounded mate to help, and these people were keeping her prisoner!

She snarled at the two figures standing on the other side of the bars. The old man was mumbling and fidgeting with his glasses while the yapping blonde child stared at her. The hyena stood and lunged at them. Keep her locked up would they? She would get out! She would GET OUT!

She needed her mate. Her skin was starting to itch and she knew that she had to complete the mating or else it would get worse and she would start to hurt and she just needed to be close to her mate who smelled so nice and was so soft…Where was he? What had they done with him?

She sniffed the air, and found that she couldn't smell anything. Well, that wasn't true. She could smell herself and the man and the girl and the books and the cage, but no mate. Compared to her old nose, this new body's nose was pathetic. She leaned forward instead and listened to the old one and yapping girl's conversation.

"That's not Xander," said the girl.

"No, it would seem not," said the man.

"Giles!" whined the girl. The hyena winced at the sound. "Fix him!"

"Well, we do need to ascertain what the trouble is first…Has Kyle said anything yet?"

Mate! They had her mate somewhere and were questioning him. She had to find him. Then she could make them pay.

"Dontcha think it's time I was a bit more _persuasive_?" said the girl, vibrating with excitement.

The hyena growled softly. For every hair of her mate's head that they touched, she would break a bone.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary, Buffy," said the man. "You must remember that there is still a very human boy in there."

"We don't know that," the girl sulked. "For all we know, he's some kind of gayifying demon!"

The old man coughed. "That's highly unlikely."

The hyena had to agree with her captors there. She might not know much about this place, but that was still _highly_ unlikely.

The blonde growled. "Just fix my Xander!"

What if your Xander doesn't want to be fixed, thought the hyena. She examined herself and felt no nagging sense of discomfort that suggested that her presence was unwanted. She just felt a bit off, and twitchy. She needed her mate.

They had to have him nearby, but far enough that she couldn't smell him or sense him in any way. That put him somewhere in this building. He must be uncomfortable, as she was. She wanted open sky and the savannah, not four walls and a tiny window.

Window?

It was high up, and small, something that she would have ordinarily had little trouble crawling through, but now judged to be a tight squeeze. Still, if she could get her captors to leave for a moment, then she could make her escape and find her mate. She stretched out her senses, following the tingle and itch that told her of her mate. He was close, perhaps a fast run to the west. Now to get out of the cage.

The blonde yapping one would never let her go, so she was forced to wait as the two stopped talking. As she sat on the cool floor she thought of sand and wind, dry air and the scent of the long grasses. All she could smell now was sweat and children, dust and tile. She hated this place and this clumsy body. She wanted her mate and her pack.

The girl stormed out of the library, and the old man turned to regard her. The hyena wrestled against the need to slam herself against the walls of the cage again. She just knew that the blonde was going to Kyle now. Kyle was HERS! HER MATE!

She breathed. The only way out was the window, and the only way out the window was to get the old man to trust her. She delved deep within her borrowed mind and found a name and speech.

"Giles?"

The old man started when she spoke, surprise etched in the lines around his mouth.

"Good lord! You can talk?"

"Why wouldn't I be able to talk? I'm Xander," she said, attempting what the mind called a 'smile'. "Can I have a glass of water?"

"I know you're not Xander," said the old man. "Who are you?"

She laughed and the old man winced. She had no reason to lie to him. "I am Xander still, the same but different—more."

He seemed to consider this for a moment. "Is Xander all right?" he said finally.

She thought for a moment. She felt no other presence in her head, but she knew she had not always been as she was now. "I am in Xander. Xander is in me. I feel fine. And thirsty."

The old man looked at her for a while, then seemed to nod to himself. Her answer satisfied him so far, though the hyena could see that he had many more questions. Still, he turned and stepped out to get a glass of water. This was her chance.

Moving silently, she climbed up and opened the window. It was just large enough for her to slip through, out into the open air beyond. She tumbled down to the ground below and sniffed the air.

Her mate was to the west.


	4. I want to be that complete

[AN: All questions about Xander's mental state will be answered by the sequel. That's right, I said it. Sequel.

Chapter Four

Tor was, at that particular moment, kicking stones in the parking lot. He was bored. He wanted to run and hunt with his pack, and he really didn't feel safe without his alpha here. Stupid Heidi. Stupid Rhonda. Stupid Kyle.

Stupid Xander—

No! Ow. Owowowowow. Tor felt like his head was splitting in two. He shouldn't think bad things about alpha. Alpha would take care of him. Alpha would keep him safe. He held himself tightly, solid like a tree, just until the pain passed.

He was getting a bit annoyed, actually. He'd been waiting in this parking lot for two hours and no one had so much as sniffed out the door. They were all probably having sex. Oh god. What if they were all having sex _together_? He wouldn't mind it so much if they hadn't just left him STANDING in the freaking PARKING LOT!

He growled and kicked another rock.

And what was with alpha choosing Kyle, anyway? Tor really hoped that it wasn't just a proximity thing. Not that he was particularly pining for Xander or anything. He just would have liked to be an option at least.

Stupid Kyle.

It was probably just the fact that he was odd man out that was dragging him down. Kyle had Xander, and the wonder twins had each other, which was so totally not fair. Seriously. Why was _he_ the one left high and dry by all of this?

He could just leave. He could just walk out of the parking lot, grab his car, and leave them here. Stranded. He should do that. He should so totally do that. But he wasn't. God he was such a little bitch.

Maybe he could go get them? Except if they were having sex, and let's be honest, what else would those four be doing, that would be really awkward. Well, not if he found Heidi and Rhonda. That would be hot, but they would probably hit him in a not-fun way. Walking in on Xander and Kyle on the other hand.

Ew. Not that they weren't both very attractive guys and all, but Xander was alpha. It would be like the time he walking in on his parents when he was nine.

Tor scowled and decided to kick a car tired instead of a rock. That was before his dad left and his mom started to look tired all the time. His big sister Josie and he tried to help her out as much as they could, but there was only so much they could do. He really hated his father. You didn't run out on your pack like that.

Which was, of course, ultimately why he was still standing in that stupid parking lot. This sucked.

A rock clattered nearby. A rock that Tor didn't kick. He whipped around and sniffed the air. Alpha!

Xander was walking by, about thirty-feet away, but he didn't see Tor. He didn't even look up. Tor growled. He might not be Kyle, but he was still an important member of the pack. He jogged over to Xander and jumped in front of him.

"Hey man, what's up?" Tor didn't smile but he did look at Xander meaningfully.

Xander didn't respond exactly as Tor expected he would.

"You. Help me find my mate." Xander had stopped and stood now, glaring. Tor felt the sudden urge to grovel.

"You lost Kyle?"

"They _took_ Kyle."

"So where is he?"

"Inside. Near the library."

"How do you know that?"

"I can feel him. We're going."

"Feel him how?"

"NOW!" Xander growled and grabbed Tor by the shirtfront. Tor stumbled to catch up with his torso. Okay. So maybe he should avoid pissing off the cave-alpha for a while.

Xander wasn't letting go of his shirt. He really liked this shirt.

Tor actually had to think about this for a minute. He supposed that was okay, it wasn't like he needed his brain to move. But if Xander was here, and Kyle was still inside, and Xander had somehow "lost" Kyle, did that mean they didn't have sex?

And why did he still feel safe, even when he was being dragged along by an angry alpha?

Tor's time for rumination was up as they hit the school entrance. He had to admire Xander's focus, but it was kind of on the creepy side. Xander put him down and stalked over to the doors. Tor felt recognition skittering at the edges of his consciousness. He ignored it and followed his alpha.

The halls of Sunnydale High were deserted, not a recalcitrant student or a straggling teacher in sight. Tor snuck along behind Xander, his nose filled with disinfectant and sweat and nice clean alpha smell. He was, in fact, so caught up in smelling that he nearly crashed right into Xander, which would not have helped anything…

He looked at Xander's face. It was tense, focused on something just past the edge of his senses. Tor held his breath and tried to "reach out with his feelings". Okay, so he could feel a gaping maw of evil energy about a hundred feet to the north, and that was just disconcerting! But he couldn't feel anything that would be of a particular interest to Xander, unless he had a Kyle homing beacon or something equally weird.

Oh.

That would make sense, the Kyle homing beacon thing. It would explain why they were here, particularly, instead of still in the parking lot. Tor reached out with "The Force" and tried to sense Kyle. He couldn't feel much, nothing like the swirly blackness of that other hole, but just a little ways away, he cold feel Kyle. It was faint, but there. Hopefully Xander could feel him better.

Just out of curiosity, he peeled his eyes open and looked over in the direction he had sensed the evil. His eyes tracked down the hall and landed on the doors to the Library. Weird. He was going to check up on that later.

He watched Xander for a sign of what they would do now. Xander twitched a little bit, focused more, then snapped out of it, looking over at Tor instead. He looked significantly in the direction of Kyle, motioned at the two of them, and pointed.

Apparently they weren't going to use their words.

They stalked over to Kyle's classroom and stood outside the door. What was this, some kind of kooky hostage situation?

He looked over at the grim expression on Xander's face. Yeah. It probably was. He took a deep breath and prepared to go in.

Which is exactly when all hell broke loose.

"Xander! Tor!" Heidi's screech rang out through the empty halls as she ran up, hair sweaty and face flushed. "I got my backpack!"

The door to the room swung open from the inside, and the red-head of Willow Rosenberg popped out, only to be popped back in by his alpha's fist.

Rhonda ran up, also sweaty. "Ready to go, guys?"

Seriously, couldn't they see that this was a bad time?

Xander growled and stalked into the room. Tor glared at the two girls and followed. Of all of the times for them to _stop_ having sex, they had to pick now, didn't they. Seriously.

Heidi and Rhonda must have decided this was more interesting than more sex, because they followed him as he stepped over the insensate Willow body on the floor.

The scene inside the room was…interesting, to say the very least. Xander stood in the center, growling in a way that promised some serious pain to whomever had taken his mate. Behind him skulked his reasonably faithful pack, and directly across the room, tied to a chair, and looking mighty happy to see them was Kyle. The only things standing between the alpha and his mate were the librarian and Buffy the Bitchy Blonde, both armed with crossbows.

Crossbows? So it was some kind of weird ye olde hostage situation?

"I should have known you'd trick me," said the librarian, and, really, that was just weird. What was he doing here?

"I told you, Giles," said Bitchy, "not Xander."

What was she talking about? Sure, he was all Cave-Xander, but Tor would be able to smell if this wasn't his alpha. This was the right Xander.

"You took my mate," snarled Xander.

Aww, it was almost cute how that statement made Kyle blush.

The librarian stammered a bit. "Your mate?"

Tor let off a high cackle as Kyle turned a beautiful shade of mauve.

Xander glared more. "Let him go."

Okay, Tor might not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but even he could see that those two weren't going to let Kyle go. You don't tie someone to a chair and then let them go just because the angry boyfriend shows up.

Heehee. Dirty.

And, apparently, they were going to fight now. Xander rushed the blonde before she could get a shot off, so Tor followed his example and tackled the school librarian. He was pretty sure this was borderline illegal, and could get him kicked out of school, but alpha was always right, so Tor jumped and landed in a pile of limbs, the crossbow point getting very friendly with his navel.

He grabbed it and flung it away before it could get friendlier. Unfortunately, when it hit the ground it went off, shooting an arrow right into the exposed calf of Rhonda, who had been watching the fracas with glee. She howled in pain, and the librarian used Tor's distraction to cuff him across the face. He retaliated with a head butt.

Over on the other side of the room, Xander and Buffy had entered into an all out death match. Seriously, it was like watching _American Gladiators_ up close, not that Tor would ever admit to watching that show (or the action figures hidden under his bed). They were hitting each other with anything to hand, from trashcans to desks to their fists, which ultimately seemed to be the most effective.

Tor decided enough was enough. He knocked out the librarian (it only took a few more punches) and raced over to Kyle.

Sometimes, you had to use desperate measures, and the only way to get alpha to notice anything was to dangle Kyle in front of his nose. He grabbed his knife (thank god for the criminal lifestyle) and hacked through the ropes. Damn these things were thick. He grimaced. Still, Kyle was freed and that was enough to get them out.

"Alpha! Let's go!" he yelled at the blur of fists in the corner. Slowly Xander emerged and pushed Buffy back down.

Tor looked around. Okay, they were mostly here and accounted for. Alpha was still being weird, and Kyle's legs were asleep, but that wasn't bad. He may have shot Rhonda in the leg, but she seemed okay-ish.

Heidi was glaring at him. He might want to avoid the lesbians for a while.

They all started hobbling out the door, until a certain redhead sat up and looked around.

"What's going on?" said Willow.

Tor considered it an act of kindness when he knocked her out again.


	5. Got your heart in a headlock

Chapter Five

Earlier

The last thing Kyle remembered before he got clocked in the head with a backpack was seeing Xander go down. So when he woke up tied to a chair, with no Xander nearby and his alpha-detector definitely _not_ tingling, Kyle was pretty damn sure that he was screwed.

Especially since he could see Buffy Summers, queen of all evil, and her redheaded minion. Also, the tied to a chair bit was a clue. Xander's friends didn't approve of him, and it seemed they were a bit more proactive about it than most.

Of course, he couldn't wake up without them noticing, and sure enough, there they were. He growled at them, which, oddly enough, did nothing to convince them to untie him. Funny, that. Buffy ran up and slapped him across the mouth.

Ow. Where the hell did that bitch learn to punch? His jaw smarted, but he took comfort in the thought of how very pissed off his alpha would be if there was even a mark on him. Wonder Woman wouldn't escape his wrath. Kyle took that feeling of safety and wrapped himself up in it. Xander would come for him. Alpha would take care of him. No—more than that—his _mate_ would keep him safe.

Xander was his.

Except Buffy seemed to think otherwise. Bitch. She'd always been weirdly possessive of his Xander, ever since she'd transferred. But Xander was _his_ first. He was Kyle's, all Kyle's. Those lips? Kyle's. That ass? Kyle's too.

Oh right. Buffy was talking. He growled again.

"Seriously! Stop that!" she said. "It's not scary, and it's kinda annoying."

Annoying? _He_ was annoying? Oh he so needed a tape recorder.

"Buffy, he's not going to talk." Thank you for stating the obvious, redheaded limpet.

He really needed to learn her name. He was pretty sure they'd gone to kindergarten together, and he'd been stalking her best friend for years, so he really ought to know.

"I could break bones until he does," said Buffy. Kyle was pretty against this plan. He cuddled his mental Xander for support again.

"Giles said no," said the other one. Kyle blessed the other one. Buffy was kind of scary sometimes.

"But Willow!" Willow, that was it. The weird hippie name. He knew he should stop relying on Tor to know these things.

"Not buts!" said Willow. "See this? Resolve face. No breaking of the demony Kyle-person unless Giles says so."

Aww, the resolve face was kind of adorable. At least it would be adorable and she would be likable if he wasn't pretty sure she had knocked him out, and she weren't plotting to break him up with Xander. All things considered, he snarled.

"Buffy, he's doing it again."

Bitch.

"Okay Mister Growly," man this Buffy chick sounded dumb sometimes, "tell us what you did to Xander so that we can fix him."

Kyle cackled. "What _I_ did to _him_? Are you crazy?"

"He speaks!"

Oh right. He was being silent. Oops. Nothing for it now.

"Honestly," he said, putting on his best innocent face, "I didn't do anything to Xander. Ask him yourself."

Sure, he knew that something must have happened in the Hyena House to make Xander go all over him, but it wasn't like he was going to tell them that.

"So why are you and he all gay now?" Thank you, Willow.

"Maybe he just really likes my ass," said Kyle, because, one, there was no way he could resist being a smart-alec, and, two, his mate did really like his ass. A lot.

Willow blushed and Buffy scowled. He was half afraid that she was going to slap him again. Fortunately, all she did was pull Willow into the corner for a whispered conference. Kyle was pretty sure he would be able to hear them if he tried, but he didn't care all that much. Instead, he thought of what he would do with his mate when he found him.

They could run and it would be just like running on the Savannah. Hell, they could take the whole pack if he wanted. Just as long as he got the wind in his hair, the smell of alpha and the solid feeling of his mate's presence, Kyle would be happy anywhere.

Buffy gave him one last threatening look, which knocked him out of his reverie pretty effectively, then stormed out.

He wondered briefly where Xander was. He knew his mate would be just fine. Xander was alpha. Xander could take anything.

Willow walked over then, and pulled up a chair. He raised his eyebrows. She raised hers back. Okay.

"Xander's not gay," she said, no preamble needed.

"Seems pretty gay to me," he said.

"Well, yeah, but that's just because you put some kind of spell on him. Poopiehead."

"I'm telling you, I didn't do anything!"

"Like I should believe you, you Liar McLiarface."

"Hey, all I know is that suddenly Xander was stalking me just as much as I stalked him."

"You _stalked _him?!"

"Um, duh."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Awkward silence reigned for a while as she tried to puzzle it out. It was actually kind of endearing to watch the gears turn.

"So, when you were teasing Xander…"

"It was because I liked him. Yes."

"Oh."

"I mean, I didn't know I liked him, all I knew was that he bugged me, but looking back on it, yeah, I liked him."

"Huh."

Uh-oh. Monosyllabic answers. Would Xander get mad if he broke Willow?

"So we pretty much just kidnapped Xander's boyfriend."

"Yes."

"Oh god."

Okay, this one? So not his fault.

Willow sank heavily into the chair and just looked at him for a while. He looked evenly back.

She wasn't unpretty. Sure, the clothes were eye-blinding bright and not flattering at all, but she had pretty eyes, and if you squinted a bit, she sort of looked like a pixie. A crazy, over-protective book-bag swinging pixie, but nobody's perfect.

He smiled. She tried to smile back. Oh well. She'd get used to him soon enough, because he wasn't giving up his mate.

The door burst open and Buffy was back. This looked like it was going to be the kind of fun that's not.

"Well," she said, hands planted on her hips and blonde hair swinging. She looked a bit like one of Charlie's Angels, which was definitely not something Kyle was going to mention. She slapped _hard_. "That Xander is totally not my Xander, so I'm gonna ask you one last time…"

Wait, she'd gone to see Xander? They had Xander?

"What did you do to him?"

Xander! MATE!

Kyle flipped his Xander-detector on high and stretched out as far as he could look. He grabbed hold of the gnawing in his stomach and the itching in his bones and ran towards the pull. There! Xander was okay, just a little bit away. He felt different too. He was stronger, but slightly wilder.

Still his Xander though.

Kyle sighed his relief at finding Xander, utterly oblivious to the effect his mental absorption was having on Buffy. She seethed. Few women appreciated being ignored. One who had just made a threat even less so.

She kicked him in the shin.

"Ow! Seriously?" Still, Kyle figured that if all he got was a kick, that wasn't so bad, except that he could feel a bruise forming, and that was just mean. He glared at Buffy, but said nothing further. There was nothing to say. He had, in fact, done absolutely nothing to Xander, but she would never believe him anyway.

The door swung open and the school librarian rushed in. Instead of asking why, pray tell, these two nice girls had a boy tied up, however, he walked quickly up to Buffy and Willow and started polishing his glasses. Huh.

"Xander seems to have escaped," he said, and Kyle didn't know that the librarian was British. He should probably go into the library more often.

Hang on a minute, the British man just said that Xander escaped! Bastards really did have Xander! Except he had escaped and was probably coming to get Kyle. Relief and anger warred to show themselves.

Boo librarian for locking up _his_ Xander.

Yay Xander for escaping.

Boo Kyle for not escaping and helping alpha.

This was all just too confusing. He decided to blame it all on Buffy Summers, judging that to be more productive. And did anyone else think it was weird that the school librarian seemed to be so close to two underage girls? That just screamed lawsuit.

Speaking of screaming, he could hear a voice in his head. A voice that wasn't his. He quickly identified it as his mate's, but there was something odd about it, some added texture. It was pretty creep-tastic.

"Mate," said the Xander-voice.

"Umm…yes?" thought Kyle.

"We are coming for you. Do not interfere."

"Okayyyy…"

Then the voice abruptly pulled out of his head. That was weird. He was about to contemplate the weirdness when he heard shouting outside in the hall. Willow ducked her head out to investigate and ended up on the floor.

So at least the voice wasn't lying.

Only now he was tied to a chair in a classroom with two crossbow wielding maniacs, his alpha, and the rest of the pack. Yay?


	6. I don't believe any of this

Chapter Six

Willow may have had a really big headache, but that didn't make her stupid. Buffy was wrong. Sure, that wasn't something she thought a lot, but she was darn well thinking it now, thank you very much! Xander was acting like some crazy beast thing that was very un-Xander, but she was pretty darn sure that this wasn't Kyle's fault.

"This is so Kyle's fault!"

Which brought her right back to thinking Buffy was wrong. If anything, someone had hexed the boys together…which actually sounded kind of likely. Maybe she should say something.

"I don't think so, Buffy."

Nope. Giles beat her to it.

Giles and Buffy were facing off across the library table while Willow sat on the counter, icing her head. Their yelling really wasn't helping her headache. Getting knocked out twice in a row would do that to you. Still, it was nice to have Giles agree.

"I rather doubt that Kyle is capable of such a complex enchantment," he said.

Amen, thought Willow.

"Well, you're…wrong?" said Buffy, and really Willow couldn't decide whether to laugh or roll her eyes. Buffy was just so attached to the idea of Kyle's responsibility, which was a little weird. It actually seemed a little homophobic, and that wasn't really something Willow wanted to think about her best friend.

Sure, she still really liked Xander, and her heart went all jittery around him and she monitored him like crazy, but if he were gay, she would be happy for him. Actually, it would make her feel a lot better about his impressive powers of obliviousness. Xander was gay. That was why he always chased after girls he couldn't get, looked at boys a little bit too long, and ignored her. Willow's Xander was gay.

That didn't mean he wasn't under a spell too, though.

"I think they're both under the same spell," she said, effectively ending the argument. Buffy and Giles looked over at her, and sighed. Giles pulled off his glasses and began polishing.

"Why do you think that?" he said.

"Well, they both growl, Kyle's got that funny laugh, and you didn't' see them on the bus back from the zoo. They were all snuggly and weird."

"They were weird on the bus," Buffy said.

Willow looked up at Giles with big anime eyes. He coughed a little bit and put his glasses back on. She cheered internally. Yes, yes, they were _both_ weird, go on!

"Actually," Buffy went on, "Heidi, Tor and Rhonda were acting kind of weird too."

Okay, not what she was aiming for, but she'd take it!

"So we have a total of five magically influenced teenagers, at least," said Giles.

"Yes," said Willow. "But if they're all affected, how do we figure out who did it?"

"You say they all seemed normal this morning?" Giles said.

"Yup," said Buffy, "then, by the time they got to the bus they were all freaky."

"The Hyena House!"

"What about it?" said Buffy. Giles looked on with interest.

"That's the last time we saw Xander before the bus, when he ran into the Hyena House!"

"You failed to mention this," Giles said to Buffy, who looked down shamefully.

"Oops?"

Giles snorted his disbelief. Willow giggled just a bit. She thought back to before the Hyena House while Giles chastised Buffy and made plans to go back to the zoo. Xander was most certainly himself that morning, but she wouldn't go so far as to think that he was happy.

She wasn't stupid. She knew that Xander's homelife was awful and that he really missed Jesse and that he would never tell her any of this because he thought she would be happier not knowing. He was wrong, but sweet. He wanted to keep his Willow-girl innocent forever, and as much as she might rail against the image, she loved meaning that much to him.

Of course, she didn't mean much to him right now apparently. Poopiehead. She rubbed her bruise. That was what had really convinced her of a spell. _Her_ Xander would never hit her. Willow was willing to allow the possibility that her Xander might be gay, but he would _never_ hurt her.

That and Kyle was adorable when he talked about stalking her best friend, which was cute and wrong on so many levels.

"All right," said Giles, interrupting Willow's ruminations on the creepy, "the zookeeper will meet us at the hyena enclosure in an hour, so I suggest we all head over to my car soon."

Ew. Giles' car was horrible. It made these awful clunking noises whenever it went above thirty miles an hour and she was perpetually afraid that bits were falling off. Still, if this would help Xander, she would risk a ride in the death-mobile.

Granted, she had to force herself to remember that this was for a good cause as she folded herself into the back seat (Buffy got shotgun, naturally), but she couldn't wait to get to the zoo. Buffy and Giles were nattering away in the front, so she let her mind drift until it landed on her conversation with Kyle.

Sure, he'd been acting a bit funny, but she was pretty darn positive that most of what he'd said was the truth, which meant that Kyle'd been stalking Xander and she hadn't even noticed.

Willow felt stupid. She really didn't like feeling stupid. It was a very not nice feeling.

Okay, time to put her thinking-helmet on. She screwed up her face and tried to think of a time when she had seen Kyle being all stalkery. Nothing…nothing…nothing…oh! Okay, so that time when she and Xander had been eating lunch and Kyle had walked halfway across the quad to push Xander's food out of his hands, that was weird. And how Kyle always managed to appear outside of history class just in time to knock Xander over, and, and…!

Wow. Kyle was _so_ stalking Xander. She giggled a little bit. It was kind of cute!

Giles must have heard her quiet laughter because he looked at her sternly in the rear-view mirror. "Willow, please remember this is no laughing matter. These children could be in great danger."

Willow maintained a little half-smirk all of the way to the zoo. It was a little funny.

The zookeeper was waiting when they got out of the car, which was a little creepy, but it _was_ after hours, so it wasn't impossible, she guessed, but hadn't he agreed to meet them over by the hyenas? Willow made a point of sticking on the far side of Buffy. Buffy would kill him if he tried anything. Heehee—fanfiction reference! Willow sort of liked being a dork sometimes.

His office was covered with pictures of animals and plans for enclosures. She felt claustrophobic and confused. They were there to see the Hyena House, not his desk! Hmmph. Stupid zoo-man.

"I knew there was something wrong with those hyenas," said the zookeeper, whose name Willow had missed. "That's why I put them in quarantine."

Something was off about this man. Willow had been oblivious once, but never again! She was going to be Nancy Drew if she had to, but no one was going to pull anything over on her again. The zookeeper was too interested in them. Anyone else would try to fob them off with a half-answer. So why did he care so much?

Something was rotten in the state of Denmark. Heehee! Shakespeare quote.

Giles and the zookeeper went off into their own world for a while, and when they were done Giles looked worried and the zookeeper looked pleased. Willow decided that this was probably a bad thing. They trooped back out to the Citroen (she only knew the car's make because Xander had written it an ode last week), crammed back and headed for home sweet hell.

Willow wished that she could feel good about the new progress, but she didn't. Her Xander was still hurting, and she wanted him to feel better so that she could tell him she accepted his gayness.

"All right," said Giles, and Willow forced her attention back off of Xander's sex life. "We need to lure the pack to the enclosure."

"Pack?" Oh good. Buffy hadn't heard what they were talking about either. It wasn't her fault that Giles talked really quietly.

"Yes. It seems that Xander has been possessed by a hyena primal."

"Oh?" Wait, if Xander's sex life was all gay now, what about her sex…love life?

"The spirit of a hyena, hence why the children have been acting especially animalistic. Really, Buffy, I expected more attention from you."

What about me, Willow's mind screamed. Granted, I couldn't hear you, but aren't you disappointed in me?

"You as well, Willow."

Good. Wait. Giles was yelling at her—bad! But he was also noticing her—good! Hmm.

The library was just as they had left it. Willow claimed her usual spot at the computer. Her head was a lot less throbby now, but they still had to figure out how to get Xander and Kyle and all those other people to the zoo.

"I could just beat them up," volunteered Buffy.

"Thank you, no," said Giles. "We have no idea how strong they are and while you are the Slayer, you're still only one girl."

"We also don't know where they are," Willow chimed in.

"Great," said Buffy. "So all we know is that there are a bunch of hyena people running around the Hellmouth. This sounds super!"

"They're probably at home," said Willow. "I can look up their addresses in the school records."

"Good," said Giles. "I think we should prepare to kidnap on of them and bring it to the zoo. The others will hopefully sniff out their packmate and join us, then we can do the reversal spell."

"And put the hyenas back in the hyenas?"

"Yes, Buffy."

As Willow pulled up school records, she couldn't help but wonder if this was at all a good idea.


	7. You and me baby aint nothing but mammals

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Thump.

Thump.

Whack.

Pause.

Thump.

"Bet that hurt," said Tor.

"Bet it did," said Rhonda.

"…" said Heidi.

After rescuing Kyle, the Pack had been eager to reconnect, but understandably hesitant to do so while the threat still lingered near. It seemed a bolt-hole was called for, so Rhonda had led them to an abandoned house, and the Pack had reunited.

Which brought them here, with Tor, Rhonda and Heidi all standing guard while Alpha "checked on Kyle."

Hence the creepy sex noises.

"This sucks," said Tor.

"Yep," said Rhonda.

"At least they're not fighting anymore," said Heidi.

Tor reflected. That was certainly true. When they had first gotten to the house, he'd been worried that Xander and Kyle were going to tear each other's eyes out.

("Did you have to knock out Willow?"

"She kidnapped my mate!"

"So is that all I am to you—an appendage?"

"MINE!"

"You're such a caveman sometimes!")

It had gone on for a while.

("Willow was just trying to help you!"

"What was I supposed to do? _Not_ come rescue you?"

"Not hit Willow!")

At least that was over now. Of course, now was the uncomfortable reconciliation bit, but Tor could handle that.

Well, he could handle hearing it. He wasn't sure if he could handle _smelling_ it.

"Oh my god, make it stop!" he said, throwing himself down on the ruined couch.

Rhonda loomed over him and smirked, while Heidi looked vaguely on from where she was drawing patterns in the dust. "Getting a little hot for you, Tor-baby?" said Rhonda.

"Shut up and die," he said, flinging an arm over his face.

"But I'm getting so hot too," she whined, and Heidi's head shot right up at that statement.

"Oh really now," said Heidi, uncurling herself and stalking toward her girlfriend.

Tor took the arm off his face.

"Yes, really," said Rhonda, tan arms slithering around Heidi and raising one eyebrow.

"Well then," said Heidi, and proceeded to nip at Rhonda's neck.

Tor was enthralled.

Rhonda threw her head back, exposing a long column of neck to Heidi's teeth. Heidi accepted the challenge and scraped her jaws all the way up Rhonda's throat to her mouth where—

Tor fell off the couch.

"Dammit Tor!" yelled Rhonda.

"Did it never occur to you to leave?" said Heidi, her hand still rebelliously creeping towards Rhonda's naughty bits.

"No," Tor said, because, well, why would it occur to him to leave when two delicious girls were gnawing on each other in front of him? That would be stupid.

"Of course," sighed Heidi. "Well, would you leave now?"

"And go where?" he said. Plus, the view from here really was too great to give up.

"He does have a point," said Rhonda. "There is no where else to go really. The upstairs isn't very stable, and, well…" Her voice trailed off, and all of their eyes tracked to the only other closed room on the first floor.

"Yeah," said Tor. "No."

"Fine," said Heidi. "I guess we'll just have to have sex while he's in the room."

"Really?"

"No, you idiot."

"Oh."

Tor sighed and sat himself back on the couch, which let off another cloud of noxious dust. The girls looked at each other and made faces of equal frustration, before sitting on the couch next to him. Heh. One girl on each side. Well, that was one way of keeping them from going at it every minute.

"Don't you go getting any ideas," said Heidi.

"None gotten," said Tor. "Except the usual, of course." He smiled his best lecherous smile at her, which fortunately just got some rolled eyes and a punch to the arm. "So, Rhonda, how do you even know about this place?"

Rhonda was busy curling into the couch, seemingly unbothered by the germ, but she managed to answer. "I crash here sometimes when I fight with the 'rents. There are tons of abandoned houses all over town, you know, cause of the 'gang problem'."

Tor did know. In fact, there were very few people in Sunnydale High who didn't, he would bet. What other school had a death list in the morning announcements? Sunnydale was a weird town, and it wasn't safe after dark. Whatever had happened to them at the zoo was just one more thing, and he was just glad that this seemed like a good thing, and less of one of those dying things. Too many things in this town were fatal.

They all sat in silence for a moment in recognition of that. Tor knew that Rhonda's sister had been killed last year, and Heidi's father the year before that. His older brother had died when he was very little, but somehow his parents had just gone on in the town, blind to the monsters around every corner.

That was why they all hated that Buffy girl so much, after all. What kind of girl actually sought out the night life? That's right, the crazy kind.

"I am now officially depressed," said Heidi. "I'm blaming you, Tor."

"Rhonda brought it up!"

"Rhonda looks better naked."

Tor had to hand it to her. "Point."

"So what should we do?" said Rhonda, clearly pleased with having been declared more attractive when naked.

"Well, I don't have any cards, and it's not like we're going to do homework," said Tor.

"Fair," agreed the girls.

"So I think we should get naked."

Pause.

Pause.

And…thwack.

Tor cackled and rubbed his arm where Rhonda had slugged him. Heidi was just glaring, which might be unpleasant, but at least it wasn't bursting capillaries.

"Bad Tor!"

"What should we do, though?" said Rhonda, anger spent now that she'd punched him.

"I don't know about you guys," said Heidi, "but I'm pretty hungry."

Tor examined his stomach and had to say that, yes, he was in fact hungry. Hmm. Hungry for chicken. Tasty, juicy, meaty, dribbling, bleeding—what?

Plain chicken then.

"I'm getting kinda starved too," said Rhonda.

"Tor?"

"Oh To-or…"

Oh. _He_ was getting the food.

"Yes, I'll get the food," he said, sighing and standing up. But looking down at the pile of delicious girl flesh he couldn't help whimpering. "You two are gonna have sex while I'm gone, aren't you?"

"Probably," said Rhonda.

"Definitely," said Heidi.

"Can you at least let me smell you after?" said Tor, practically salivating at the pheromones in the room now.

The girls looked at each other. "Fine," they said. "But no funny business."

"Yes!" Tor bounded out of the house, determined to be back before they were done, or at the very least, before the scents faded. But sadly, that was not to be.

Tor was just rounding the corner onto Pasadena Circle, when he caught scent of Buffy the bitch, and that was just too good to ignore…


	8. Like they do on the Discovery Channel

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

AN: I know this chapter is a bit short, but it's porny to make up for it. Don't read if you disapprove, but if you do read, then cut me some slack, please! It's not easy to write gender-swapped, animal possession, pseudo-bestiality, and gay sex all at once.

Xander was not pleased with her mate. Not pleased in the slightest. He had argued with her. Her! He had argued with his _Alpha_! His mate! This would not do.

Xander stalked up to Kyle and circled him, growling. They were in the private part of the den, with the rest of the pack standing guard outside. Kyle shivered.

"So I guess we should talk about this now," said Kyle.

Xander snarled.

"Or not! Or we could not talk and just…glare."

Xander kept stalking. The mate would have to learn a lesson about where his loyalties should lie. She got in closer and nipped at Kyle's throat.

"Yeowch! Can you _not_ do that? Or at least give a guy some warning."

She leaned in, placed her hand on Kyle's ass, whispered, "No," and squeezed.

Kyle yelped. Xander smirked. It was good to be Alpha. There were so many pheromones flying around the room that she was afraid she might sneeze.

Xander stopped prowling and grabbed hold of Kyle. She pushed him down on to the bed and straddled him. The pheromones in the room spiked.

Xander sneezed.

Kyle looked on in confusion.

Xander leaned down and purred in Kyle's ear. "My Pack, my Mate!"

Kyle groaned and arched back. Xander grinned. As much as Kyle might try to deny it, he needed to belong, yearned to belong, needed his Alpha.

"Mine," said Xander (all of Xander). "All mine."

"You're mine too," said Kyle. "Don't you dare forget that."

Xander smiled and bit into the soft flesh of Kyle's shoulder to seal his claim. She heard Kyla gasp, but didn't stop until she tasted the first few drops of blood. She sat up, licking her teeth. Kyle stared in wonder.

Then Kyle rose up and pushed Xander down. "Mine," he said, nuzzling into his Alpha's neck, then bit down on the shoulder.

Xander sneezed again.

So here they were, the Alpha and her Mate. Claimed. Mated. Together.

Xander let out a positively indecent growl.

Kyle blushed furiously.

Xander smirked. Her mate was about to learn all about what these wonderful hairless bodies could do.

Xander wiggled a little bit. Kyle gasped.

Xander frowned. The hyena didn't usually have bits right there…

Oh well. Hot sweaty sex was hot sweaty goodness in any body, and she was pretty sure it worked about the same too.

Kyle couldn't breathe right. Good. Xander tilted up and licked the tangy musky (tasty!) sweat that had beaded, a long strip to Kyle's shoulder, and there could be fewer pants now.

Stupid body with its stupid clothes.

Now they were both naked, and that was good, very good, because there was skin everywhere, sweating and smelling and tasting. Skin sliding along other skin, which was really just fantastic.

Oh. Kyle's hands were wrapping around the strange bits and it felt like he was pulling the breath out of her.

Maybe Xander should be doing the same?

Xander reached out her hands to reciprocated, but then snatched them back. Hang on! Xander was Alpha here! Xander should be the one in charge.

Xander nipped at Kyle again, and the hands stilled. Xander wanted to whine, but stopped himself. Kyle looked at his Alpha expectantly and she reveled in it.

Then she looked at him expectantly.

He looked back.

She kept looking.

So did he.

She glared, flicked her eyes down to their mutually enflamed crotches and looked back at him.

"What?" he said.

Xander sighed. So she would have to explain this after all. Poor innocent, young Mate.

"Mount me," she said.

"What!" shrieked Kyle.

Talking did not appear to be working.

Xander raised her arm to her mouth and bit the flesh until it bled in strong rivulets, streaming down her chin. She covered her hand with blood and slipped it down between her thighs to her hole.

There was the recognition in Kyle's eyes.

Xander pushed her fingers in and that was really, really good. Different, with new tightening in odd places, and a spot that made her feel full of lightning when she touched it.

Kyle was excited now that he understood, and Xander indulged that. She pulled her hand away and coated him in blood. He was too excited to be fully aware, but he breathed quickly as she pulled him into her.

And they were joined, complete. Xander resisted the urge to purr, and instead gave in to the urge to move.

She rose up and pushed back down and Kyle seemed to get the idea after a bit. He started thrusting, which was just right.

Xander was suddenly glad for the headboard so that she had something to grip when Kyle sped up suddenly.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The friction was perfect—head-bumping, sweaty, messy goodness and she was loving it.

She raked her claws down his back. She bit at his arms. She reveled.

Thump.

Thump.

Whack.

And then there was the downside to headboards. They were hard. Ow. Her head hurt. But not enough to stop.

Thump.

Thump.

Messy human sex was fun.


	9. Here's to the nights we felt alive

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Kyle was sore, but it was a good kind of sore. A nice throbby, groany sort of ache. He stretched his arms and wow, there was some tension. Good, nice feeling. Kyle burrowed back into the bed and then it hit him.

Mate.

He had Mated with Xander last night. That was…interesting. He was pretty sure he was happy about that. Reasonably sure. Kinda.

Xander hummed and rolled over, bumping into Kyle and resettling aroundhim. Kyle smiled against his will—okay, so Xander was a bit adorable. Just a little.

Xander snuggled a bit more.

Awww.

Wait—no. He had to sort out how he felt about this. A cute, snuggly boy in his bed? Not helping.

Well, technically, not _his_ bed, and Xander was more than boy-sized…

Right. Introspection.

He liked Xander. A lot. He'd liked Xander for a while. So that was good. Xander seemed to like him too, and that was good. Actually, Xander seemed to have gone from zero to cuddly in a half-hour. He knew he should see something wrong with that, but he couldn't. All he could see was that he belonged now.

He had his Mate and his Pack, and he was supposed to be there. This was a Good Thing.

Kyle now felt free to curl back around Xander. Warm, comfy Mate. Definitely a Good Thing.

"Hi," whispered Kyle.

Xander cracked an eye open and made a vague gesture at Kyle. "Mmmrff," he said.

Kyle's smile broke out again. He was flooded with warm fuzzy feelings. Sleepy Xander was just so cute!

He kissed his Mate's shoulder and slipped out of bed. Xander might be fantastic, but he had to pee like woah.

He stumbled out into the main room, not even bothering with pants. He was sure there was a bathroom around here somewhere. Kyle glanced around the main room and saw a pleasantly naked Heidi and Rhonda entwined on the couch.

Bathroom? Bathroom.

He emerged feeling much better. Pants? Pants were not something he wanted confining him right now. Kyle continued his naked walk back to the bedroom when a thought occurred to him.

He looked around the room again. Rhonda. Heidi. Xander in the bedroom.

Where was Tor?

"Hey!" he hissed, trying to wake up the girls, but not his Mate. No, his warm, perfect, wonderful smelling, pleasantly aggressive….

He was back. Unfortunately, the girls mumbled, but did not wake up.

"Rhonda," he whispered, getting closer. "Heidi!"

Still nothing.

He gave up and went over to shake them awake. "Guys, seriously, wake up!"

At this, Heidi pried her eyes open and gazed blearily at the one part of his anatomy that was eye level with her.

"Penis! Penis! What is it doing there?!"

Okay, so maybe pants would have been a good idea after all.

Rhonda woke up with the shouting, and Kyle could only assume that Xander had too, which was just great. Just perfect. Thanks a lot, Heidi, for ruining the morning after snuggle with your penis fear.

Naturally he kept these thoughts to himself. What he actually said was more along the lines of a yelp.

"God, Kyle," said Heidi, finally recovered from waking up to the wrong sort of dangly bits. "Put some fucking pants on!"

Kyle snorted. "As if you're one to talk, little miss no shirt, no pants, no admittance, over there."

Heidi looked at him with bafflement for a moment, before realizing that she too was naked.

"Oh."

"Yeah," said Kyle, still self-consciously covering his crotch. "We're all in the naked club, whoop-dee-doo."

"Sorry Kyle," said Rhonda, "but I'm not sure I like your whoop-dee-doo." She then proceeded to burst into giggles and bury her head in Heidi's back.

Bitch.

Kyle caught sight of a Xander head out of the corner of his eye. Yup. Looked like happy morning after cuddling was now over. Grrr.

Xander stalked over, paying no heed to his own nudity, and somehow it seemed less funny when he was involved. Alpha's nudity seemed natural, not weird. Kyle felt suddenly better about his own lack of pants, and straightened up. The girls had finally stopped giggling, so he could at least focus.

"We're missing one," said Alpha, looking around the room.

"That's why I woke them up," explained Kyle, in his best you-know-you-love-me voice. "To find out where Tor is."

"Umm," said Heidi.

"Well," said Rhonda.

Both of them seemed a bit more hesitant when actually faced with grouchy Alpha and a potentially missing Pack-mate. Served them right.

"He went to go get food last night," said Rhonda. "I don't know if he came back."

"Yeah," said Heidi. "Come to think of it, he's been gone a while. It shouldn't have taken him this long. Plus he would have hurried."

All Xander had to do was raise an eyebrow.

"Umm," said Heidi.

"Well," said Rhonda.

"You two wanted to have sex," said Kyle. Really, it was pretty obvious, what with the nudity.

"So Tor is still gone," said Xander.

"Probably?" said Heidi. "He didn't interrupt us, so I would assume so."

"Not good," snarled Xander and began stalking around the room, like it was a cage and not a reasonably nice living room.

"What's not good?" ventured Kyle, hesitantly approaching his mate.

"Missing pack members two days in a row."

"Huh?" said Rhonda.

"First Kyle and me, then Tor?" said Xander, running his hands through his hair and twitching slightly with controlled frustration.

"You think it's them again," said Kyle.

"I think," said Xander.

Well that was just plain bad. Sure, they hadn't done much to him really, though he could probably thank Xander for getting him out of there before that eventuality. Still. At the very least, they did not seem to have good intentions. Willow and Buffy might be technically good people, and they might even have good intentions, but this was the third Pack member they had taken. They were planning something.

He didn't like plans. They didn't usually work right. He knew from experience too. In retrospect, stalking Xander was a really crummy plan.

"We need to get him back," said Xander.

"How?" said Kyle.

"Sniff."

Kyle was lost again. Kyle was, in fact, even more lost than he had been during sex. At least then his confusion could be considered cute innocence. Now it was just him being obtuse. That didn't mean he understood, though. No amount of hoping could make it so.

"Sniff?" said Kyle.

"Use your nose," hissed Rhonda.

Oh. Okay, yeah, that was a little obtuse of him. Damn. They might be Mated, but Kyle still wanted to prove himself to Xander. He wanted to prove that he was a good pick, and that someone else wouldn't have been better.

Somehow, he didn't think that plan was working. Not that Xander was giving him any hints either way, and he knew Xander wouldn't (couldn't) cut and run from him, but still.

Grrr.

"Are you sure we can do that?" said Heidi.

"Yes," said Alpha, and that was it. They would sniff for Tor and they would find him. There were no other options here.

Xander pushed open the front door and started sniffing. Kyle considered pointing out to him that they were all naked and it was four in the morning, but reconsidered. He probably didn't want to interrupt Xander right now.

Besides, he had absolutely no desire to put his clothes back on. He wanted to run, to chase, to be free!

Where the hell had that come from?

But he did want that. He wanted to chase after Tor and tear into whoever had taken him because Tor was his Pack-brother and they deserved to die for challenging that!

Kyle growled low in his throat, and the growl was picked up by Heidi and Rhonda. He could sense that they were thinking and feeling the same things as he was. They all looked to Alpha for direction, and he turned back at them, smirking.

That damn smirk again.

Xander rested his hand on Kyle's cheek, and then nodded. They were off!

They were running through the streets of Sunnydale, utterly naked, and Kyle had never felt so alive! He could feel his Pack around him, could feel Tor somewhere up ahead, and let those instincts guide him. He was free.

They tore through a graveyard and he leapt over gravestones like they were barely even hurdles for him. He was perfect, fit and ready to chase down game. He could almost smell the high grasses of the savannah. The wind was warm and dry and he was right where he should be.

Kyle yipped and the others yipped with him. His Mate was there, telling them where to go, and he followed, like a good Pack-second. They were almost to their lost Pack-brother.

He ran forward and kept pace with Alpha, who grinned at him and barked his approval.

They dashed forward in the pre-dawn darkness and he realized vaguely that they were entering the Sunnydale zoo.

That was weird.


	10. Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry

AN: This is the last chapter of The Pack: Mating, but I will write a sequel. I will write that sequel at the same speed I wrote this, so don't count on it to come quickly or even snail-speed, but still. The story isn't over. I've actually got it all planned out. I just am, you know, really freaking lazy.

Chapter Ten

Xander could not remember ever being happier. She was running, flying through his territory in the still of the morning just before dawn with his Pack at his heels. Her mate was beside her, whole and strong. The Mating was complete, fulfilled that night with blood and sex, a bond that could not be broken. Xander would never be alone again.

She had started to remember and understand the boy's life as she lived in his body, and she wanted this for him, just as much as she wanted it for her. She knew that he would fight if he could, but it was just instinct. All was instinct. He wanted to belong to someone, anyone, and he would love belonging to this Pack. He needed a Mate, someone to love him above all else, and he needed to be strong, to take control. He needed to be Alpha, so she took him and she made him Alpha. She saw him, all the bad and the good and she loved him. She was mother-self, and she wanted the very best for him. The very best was Mate and Pack and Hunt.

Xander was happy. All of Xander. There was no conflict, because there was no argument. Xander had been lonely ever since the other pup, Jesse, had died. Jesse had been good, a sweet pup, perhaps even enough to be Mate someday if he had lived. Xander knew this, knew that the boy had had feelings for the pup, and this made her satisfied. Kyle was not the pup but he was like him, a good boy with a strong will and a love that would keep her in line. She looked forward to Hunts and long days in bed. She wanted nights of running and playing with the Pack.

She wanted the Pack to be together.

Xander yipped and raced a little faster, bounding over a tombstone and just following her sense of Tor's presence. She knew where he was, as surely as she knew where her own hand was. Pack was family, more than family, Pack was body. Pack was all. They had to get Tor back and make the interlopers pay, kill the ones who had dared to steal him in her territory, because there was no doubt that this was her territory. She had been there before any of them, born on the Mouth of Hell and destined to die on it, it would seem. They had all come after, so it was her territory, her land to protect.

They were getting on her nerves, and she needed those.

Kyle pressed up and began to run in stride with her. Had it been one of the others, Rhonda or Heidi, or Tor, in better circumstances, she would have nipped at them and pushed them back behind, but Kyle was Mate. Kyle was allowed special privileges, because Mate was there to keep her sane. Mate was there to make sure that she made the right call and always protected the Pack even when she wanted something else, like revenge or territory—or sex. She did not think Kyle had figured out his role yet, but he was important. She had chosen him for his strength, and because the human inside her had quivered so beautifully at the sight of him. She needed that. She needed to be wholly committed to her Mate, and she was. All of her recognized Kyle as her equal and her subordinate at once. He could challenge her decisions, but it was still ultimately her Pack.

She could feel gravel under her feet now, and it hurt, but not enough to take away from the thrill of the Hunt and the need for Pack to be together. They were almost to Tor. It took her a moment to realize that they had ended back up at the zoo, the place that smelled of fried bananas and magic. She just kept running for Tor, though, because it didn't matter now if the fired banana smell was getting stronger. Tor was Pack, and Pack stayed together. She could feel the threads of his loyalty to Pack and Alpha like she could feel the pull of a well corded rope, ever drawing her in. You did not abandon Pack, no matter what the situation.

Of course, Xander thought uncharitably, as she glanced back at Rhonda and Heidi, sometimes you wanted to. Very badly.

She did not know how she would punish them when they got Tor back, but she would certainly have to think of something. They had allowed Tor to go out alone when they knew of the danger to the Pack, all so that they could have some time to mate. They did not need privacy for that. Privacy was only really necessary for times like a true Mating, when vows and bonds were exchanged, rather than just bodily fluids. She would know if the two females had Mated, and she could smell that they had not. They had just been too prudish or angry to allow Tor to stay, and had instead pushed him out into his capture. She could not think of a punishment bad enough, but she was going to try her level best.

They raced past the zebra pens and the reptile houses, away from the butterfly cages and the aquarium. There. There it was. The Hyena House. That was where they were keeping Tor. The irony was just so thick that Xander couldn't help it. She started to laugh.

Kyle looked at her strangely for a moment, until she pointed at their destination, never slowing down or missing a footfall. He then joined her in laughter, and the females did too, their cries cackling up into a sky that was starting to turn gray with light. Xander kept running. Tor was close, the Pack was almost together now.

They reached the entrance for the Hyena House and did not slow down. If there was a trap, which there surely was, then no amount of stealth would stop them from setting it off. It was better to surprise the captors than worry about that. They raced along empty hallways, bare feet skittering across tile floors, until they came to the main room and saw Tor.

It wasn't pretty.

Xander growled loudly, not bothering with subtlety. A man dressed in old robes, his face painted and fierce, held Tor up, knife to his throat. Tor struggled, but he appeared to be bound. Scanning the room, Xander could see the Slayer bound up as well, and Willow splayed out on the floor, probably unconscious. She advanced on the man, still growling. He began to chant in a language she did not recognize.

She stalked forward and the Pack followed, until they were all within his painted circle. Then they rushed. He cried out the last words of his chant as they leaped for him, fingers twisted like claws and teeth gnashing. Their eyes began to glow, flashing out the light as the spirits were torn from their bodies. Xander could feel it begin in her. She could feel herself begin to tear, but she pressed on. She grabbed the man and threw him into the pit, just as her eyes flashed and the hyena left him.

Xander awoke, naked, in the center of the Hyena House at the zoo, curled around Kyle, of all people, praying that the last day had been a dream.

This was so not what he meant when he asked for the world to pay him back.


	11. AN: sequel news!

AN: Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that there is now a sequel up to this story: The Pack: Accidentally in Love. It's right there on my user page, so don't be strangers now!


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